In some manufacturing operations, a plurality of small elements, such as foil inlays for printed circuits, must be assembled in close uniform or nonuniform spacing relative to one another for ultimate transfer to a permanent site. Due to the close spacing and the relative size of the elements, it becomes difficult to manually manipulate each element while maintaining the spacing therebetween. One method of facilitating the assembly of the plurality of elements in a desired spacing is to adhere the elements to a piece of adhesive tape for ultimate transfer to the permanent site. However, during the handling of the tape in preparation for transfer of the elements thereto, the tacky side of the tape could become attached undesirably to surrounding structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,325 which issued to J. W. Toensing discloses a taping apparatus. Tape, from a supply roll, is threaded between two sets of clamps, one set being fixed to the apparatus and the other set being movable relative to the other set. The coordinated movement of the clamps serves to advance a leading section of the tape in a single direction through and beyond the fixed set of clamps. The tape is then held by the fixed set of clamps with the leading section being unclamped beyond the fixed set of clamps. The leading section is then severed from the clamped portion of the tape. As the leading section is being severed from the tape, the nontacky side of the tape is vacuumly gripped. Thereafter, the vacuumly gripped section is transferred to and pressed against an article to which it is to be adhered. It is noted that the leading edge of the tape is unclamped prior to severing thereof. Therefore, it would appear that there is a lack of alignment control for the leading section which could result in a loss of accuracy in placement of the leading section with the article. Consequently, there is a need for methods of and apparatus for dispensing and accurately positioning tape onto a surface.